September 1, 2025

Issue 40: Snippets, Badges, and NIF 2026!

Some snippets of the secret work, a look at the behind the scenes of Summer Camp 2025, and launching NIF 2026!

Hello hello, friends and good folk!

The heat here is finally starting to dissipate, and it’s been so lovely to get days here and there where we can leave our windows open and wake up to a cool morning breeze. I can’t wait for it to be here every day!

I’m looking forward to using September for working on my comic Burden. It got a lil neglected these last couple weeks as I worked on the secret-for-now project, wrapped up Summer Camp, and worked on launching the next round of NIF.

I’ve been plugging away at it for an hour or two at night when I can, but I really want more time to focus on it during the day when I have more energy. So I’ve worked extra hard the last couple weeks to clear most of the admin stuff off my to-do list so I can do exactly that! 🔥🔥🔥

SUMMER CAMP: THE MAGIC OF BRINGING AN IDEA TO LIFE

Certificate designed by Adrian Alvarez

We gathered around the (virtual) campfire one last time yesterday to say goodbye to the Co-op’s first Summer Camp! It was really wonderful to spend one last day together for the camp, reminiscing about the fun we had this season as we all get ready for a busy fall ahead.

I talk often here about how inspired I am by my fellow Co-op members, and I wanted to share a look behind the scenes at just what we created together and how many people helped bring this idea of Summer Camp to life. So I wrote a blog post about it!

Art by Monty Kaiser

In the post, you’ll find details about (and links to some of) the events we hosted. I also talk about the efforts of multiple Co-op committees working together, show off a bunch of the cool art our members made, and more. Honestly, the 8 pages of the merit badge comics and the certificate in the post alone are worth checking out! 😍

Art by Monty Kaiser

It’s a great look at the magic of making something exist that didn’t exist before and how that brought so many people together.

READ ABOUT SUMMER CAMP 2025 —>

IN THE STUDIO

Okay, so I got a lot done in the last few weeks, but… I can’t show it to you or talk about it just yet for legal purposes 😅 BUT! I believe I can safely show you these two small snippets:

I really enjoyed making these little details! I’d never drawn a star-nosed mole before, and he’s suddenly something I want to draw over and over again! Look at ‘im! Lookin’ all cute with his lil crown and regal posture. I love him!

I also loved drawing those lil houses, too— I’ve taken a lot of style inspiration from the animated show Hilda. I love that series so much, and I just had to borrow the cozy feeling I get from the way they draw trees and houses!

And yes, I did draw those Celtic knots by hand, thank you so much for noticing! 🥲💖

IN THE SHOP

My Comics and Art Collection #1 is still available on itch! It features fifteen illustrations, such as River God, From Bed, and The Last Hour, But Make It Gay, and thirty-four pages of fifteen micro comics, such as the (tiny) friend, Starved, A Long Eviction, and Fairy Tales for Adults.

CHECK IT OUT! —>

NIF 2026 IS OFFICIALLY A GO!!

Art and graphics by Alyssa Ragni | @InkyPunk

I’m also very excited to share that the Co-op is officially open for submissions for NIF 2026! I’m serving on the NIF Committee again this year, but just on Promo Team this time around. I’ll be managing the NIF newsletters again this year, as well as another idea we’re cooking up (secret project!), and I hope you’ll subscribe to our NIF Mailing List to check those out!

If you’re a member of the Co-op, you’re able to submit both comics and event proposals for consideration, and if you’re not a member of the Co-op, you’re welcome to submit an event proposal with us. And if you’re one of those really cool people who just likes art, comics, and the people who make them, then we’ll have more details and goodies coming your way soon! 💖

Submissions close on October 1 at 2:59 PM ET, so be sure to get yours in by then 💖 I’m eager to see what this year brings us and share the new plans we’ve got in store for 2026!

SIGN UP FOR THE NIF MAILING LIST —>

COMMUNITY FEATURE

My friend and fellow Co-op Comics Critique Group facilitator Leon, aka Bri Crozier, (he/it) is soon launching its Kickstarter project for printing his award-winning, new weird horror webcomic Blackbird Hunting!

“Something is stalking the people of Frontage. With State-Church officials turning up in pieces,  a bloody plague beginning to spread, and the horrors of the Delirium encroaching on the town, everyone is pointing fingers at 15 year old Dione Oriole. Daughter of the town priest and a presumed dead Delirious witch, Dione has wanted out for a long time.

For her, escape hinges on learning arcana and joining the Inquisition; just as her father intends. There, she can start over where no one knows her mother’s history. But that can only happen if she can prove she’s not a witch herself. Easier said than done, when evidence keeps piling against you. To escape with her life, Dione must find the real witch, the cause of the plague, and hide the terrible truths of how she’s connected to it all.“

You can sign up to be notified when the campaign launches on September 7!

CHECK OUT THE CAMPAIGN! —>

ON A PERSONAL NOTE

Iiiiiii… am ready for Halloween!! I finally got some time to make a fabric candy bucket for trick-or-treaters recently! I can’t wait to fill it up and hand out candy to our local kiddos! If they come— sadly, we don’t really get a lot of trick-or-treaters 🥲 But I refuse to give up hope!!

I’ve been wanting a candy bucket for Halloween for a while now— for the last several years, we just tossed them in a mixing bowl or a crochet bag that was not ideal with its many gaping holes 😅 And you know me, I can’t pass up an opportunity to give myself more creative projects to work on, so of course I wanted to make my own! 😂

I was really excited to come across the pattern for this bucket on Etsy and found some cute fabrics to use. Supposedly, the fabrics glow in the dark, but I haven’t tested it much yet!

The way the pattern was written was neat, too! Most are typed up and illustrated on the computer, but this one included a hand-drawn pattern, which gave it a really lovely, handmade touch that I don’t see very often these days.

It wasn’t difficult to put together either, so if you sew and are interested in giving it a try, I recommend checking it out! I cut out and prepped all the pieces one day for a couple of hours and then put it together in a few hours another day. Not too bad!

I should note that I used a heavy duty sew-in interfacing for the outer fabric instead of a fusible one, and I just quilted it together to hold it in place, and it worked like a charm! I also think that would be great if you made the outer fabric orange to look like a pumpkin since it gave it some nice pumpkin-y ridges 🎃

CHECK OUT THE PATTERN —>

RECENT READS + FAVORITES

It’s been a struggle to read as much as I usually do lately, so I was really glad to be able to make time for these two that have been on my list for a bit! 💖

READ RECENT READS —>

And here are some of my favorite things from the past few weeks:

Eating: Cinnamon toast
Watching: 7 Women and a Murder and Alien: Earth
Listening: Chillhop Haunted House
Experiencing: The promise of autumn riding cool morning breezes
Doing: Making my niece’s quilt bit by bit when I get time on the weekends!

How about you? What have been some of your favorite things lately?

Hope this week is kind to you 💖 Thanks for reading!